Bangert: 4th District accusations fly over super-PAC attack mailers

Diego Morales is convinced rival Republican Steve Braun was behind a super PAC attack on his campaign. A crowded 4th District race takes an ugly turn

This mailer, paid for by a super PAC called Citizens for a Strong America, has Diego Morales accusing rival Steve Braun of a political hit in the GOP primary in Indiana's 4th District.(Photo: Photo provided)

LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Was Diego Morales meant to come across as an illegal immigrant in a political action committee flier that arrived in 4th District mailboxes in the past week, as whispers around the west-central Indiana congressional campaign trail have assumed?

Morales, one of seven Republicans in a crowded field heading into the May 8 primary, wouldn’t go that far, exactly, about a mailer from the Citizens for a Strong America PAC. The flier shows him in a boonie-style military hat, glancing at a map over copy that reads: “Diego Morales. Doesn’t live here. Doesn’t work anywhere.”

“They’re trying to paint me in all ways,” Morales, who immigrated legally from Guatemala, said Friday. “Unfortunately, that’s a new low for my competitors to do.”

What the mailer was trying to say – literally, that Morales was a late-comer to the 4th District, moving there just before filing to run to replace Rep. Todd Rokita in the U.S. House – wasn’t as important to Morales as much as who he assumes was behind the attack ad.

Diego Morales(Photo: Provided)

Morales blames Steve Braun – even if he can’t offer direct evidence to pin Braun, another frontrunner in the GOP primary, to Citizens for a Strong America PAC and a series of negative mailers aimed his direction.

“Who else? Who else do you think is doing this?” Morales said. “I leave this to you and everyone else to do your homework and figuring out. I have no time getting to that. Do you know why? Because I’m focusing on my positive message and focusing on the voters of the 4th District.”

The Braun campaign wasn’t amused.

“These slanderous allegations from Diego Morales are completely false and exactly what you see from dishonest candidates,” said Matt Humm, campaign manager for Braun.

Who is really behind the ads and why Morales is a target are a bit of a mystery.

Morales and Braun, along with state Rep. Jim Baird of Greencastle, are widely considered the most likely to win the nomination to replace Rep. Todd Rokita, a Brownsburg Republican who will give up the seat to run in his own contentious race for U.S. Senate. The other Republicans in the May 8 primary are Jared Guy Thomas, Kevin Grant, James Nease and Timothy Radice.

Six candidates – Tobi Beck, Roger Day, Darin Griesey, Joe Mackey, Ronald Ellis and Veronikka Ziol – are on the Democratic side of the ballot in the 4th District, which includes 16 counties, including Tippecanoe and surrounding counties.

According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, Citizens for a Strong America spent $177,620 over a two-week period in April on mail and digital advertising meant to oppose Morales.

In the first round of mailers, Morales – a Purdue grad who has been campaigning on his background with the Indiana National Guard and his ties to his days as an aide to Mike Pence – was depicted on the business end of a Donald Trump firing. That one was loosely based on a report by The Associated Press that Morales had been canned in 2009 by then-Secretary of State Rokita and had a suspect work history.

The second one – which included what Indiana political reporter Brian Howey called “a portrayal some might interpret as an ‘illegal immigrant’” – challenged whether Morales was actually a full-fledged resident of the 4th District.

Citizens for a Strong America has a P.O. box in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to FEC filings. The PAC has raised $3.1 million during the 2018 election cycle, according to an accounting compiled by OpenSecrets.org, a campaign finance watchdog site. A list of six-figure contributors includes Jerry Reinsdorf, owner of the Chicago White Sox, and dozens of others from across the country.

Steve Braun(Photo: Provided)

Attempts to reach Citizens for a Strong America to find out what the fascination was with Morales were not immediately answered.

The attack on Morales, based on whether he actually lives in the district he hopes to represent, comes across as an odd play for the Braun campaign.

Braun lives in Zionsville, beyond the outline of the 4th District’s reach into Boone County. The Constitution requires members of the U.S. House to live in the state they represent, but not the district.

Still, Braun, a former state representative, seems to be vulnerable on that point and in no position to throw rocks.

Morales was having none of that.

“This lifelong Democrat, who lives outside the district, has to rely on this negativity from his allies against me. And those are the facts,” Morales said, referencing Braun’s vote in the 2008 Democratic primary. “We know who’s doing all this. … When I talk to the people in the 16 counties, they say to me, ‘We know who’s doing this. We know that Steve Braun is doing this, because he is way, way behind.”

The campaign otherwise has featured positive mailers and TV ads from the other candidates.

“I have been a vocal opponent of outside money influencing elections and the use of negative advertising, in general,” Thomas said. “I have no interest in this type of campaigning and think that these types of issues are negative distractions that have no place in this race – the 20,000 4th District residents I have visited at their homes agree with me.”

Still, Braun has been beaten up, too, by a super PAC – one that has openly backed Morales.

During a three-week period in April, the With Honor Fund spent $384,529 on a series of mailers and television ads opposing Braun, according to FEC records. With Honor, based in Alexandria, Virginia, states a goal to “help elect principled next-generation veterans in order to solve our biggest problems and fix a Congress that is dysfunctional.”

The series of With Honor mailers calls out Braun, questioning his commitment to conservative ideals, his Democratic primary vote and for being an out-of-touch millionaire.

Attempts to reach With Honor were not immediately successful.

Were the attacks on Morales a return volley from the Braun camp?

“Diego Morales will literally say anything to mislead voters,” Humm said. “And one need only look at the news reports that have detailed his twice being fired from state government jobs and a resume the Associated Press described as ‘embellishments, a spotty work history and murky business dealings.’”

Short of firm evidence, Morales said he’s convinced that Braun’s fingerprints will wind up on last week’s mailer that had the undocumented worker feel to it. (Morales has campaigned on tough border security and says he would be in a good position to talk about immigration reform as someone who came legally – “who did it the right way” – from Guatemala.)

“I am a proud American, and I’m a proud Hoosier,” Morales said. “Unfortunately, some people have to rely on this sort of negative campaign to slow me down. It’s a cheap shot from one of my competitors, making things up about me, trying to buy this election with his personal money.

WHAT YOU CAN DO: Indiana’s primary is May 8. A valid ID is required to vote. To check the candidates who will be on your ballot, as well as your registration status, ID requirements and where to vote early and on Election Day, go to indianavoters.in.gov.

EARLY VOTING IN TIPPECANOE COUNTY: Here are locations to vote before the May 8 primary.